Communist parties protest against inflation

The workers of Communist Party of India (CPI), CPI (M), CPM Punjab and CPI (ML) on Tuesday held a massive protest outside the district administrative complex for their demands of abolition of property tax and other taxes, inflation, drug abuse and other issues.

Workers alleged inflation and taxes had caused much trouble to common man in the state under the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party (SAD-BJP) government as managing daily expenses was becoming a task.

The protesters said property tax and other taxes had added the burden on the public which was already reeling under the problem of unemployment.

Gurmeet Singh, secretary of CPI (M) said the government should start policies for the welfare of the public rather than making false promises of development. He added the government should take stern action to control the drug menace in the state. Singh criticised the state government by saying that drug mafia and petty crimes had risen during the regime of the SAD government which had failed so far.

Later, the protesters submitted a memorandum to SDM-1 Jalandhar asking the government to discuss their demands with them. They threatened to hold more protests if the government failed to fulfill their demands.